Daddy's Little Fighter
by dopeskii
Summary: Calleigh watched as Eric had to be physically restrained from holding his daughter by one of the doctors. Calleigh's own heart seemed to stop when the monitor sat at a constant beep, signaling the lack of life in little Sophia's body.


Hello all readers! So I just decided to add another one shot… but I was thinking of adding another chapter to my story, Please Don't Leave Me, but I thought of adding this instead.

This is inspired by a Grey's Anatomy episode starring Mary Charles Jones… so go watch that episode because it's brilliant.

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><p><em>7 Years Ago<br>_

"Which one is she?" Natalia Boa Vista asked her friend Eric, as she looked in the window at all the little newborns squirming around in the incubators. Eric smiled and pointed to the small bundle right in front of them. "Eric, she's beautiful." Natalia sniffed back tears. Eric put his arm around her, and gave her a side hug.

"She's perfect." Eric commented, waving happily to the baby. "Sophia Caylee Delko. 4 pounds, 7 ounces."

"When can you hold her?" Natalia asked him, looking up at his face, trying to catch his eyes. But Eric's eyes where focused on his baby girl.

"The nurse said sometime today, but I'm gonna make sure Calleigh gets to hold her first." He said.

"You better." An outside voice came from beside them. Eric and Natalia turned their heads to see a very tired looking Calleigh being rolled into their area by Horatio. Eric smiled at his wife before walking up to her. He grabbed her hand, and lifted her out of her chair carefully. He supported her back as he walked her over to the large viewing window. Once Calleigh caught sight of her child, she started to cry. She turned in Eric's arms, and clung on to him tighter as she let the tears out. "She's perfect Eric." She cried into his shoulder.

"She has perfect parents." Eric joked, earning a smile from everyone around him.

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><p><em>6 Years Ago<em>

"Da!" Sophia exclaimed as she crawled up towards her father, she held her arms up, and Eric lifted her up in the air. "Da!" She smiled again, as she put her hand in her mouth. Eric smiled up at Sophia before placing her on his chest. Sophia's head lay on Eric's shoulder, and her hand grasped at his shirt.

"One day, all the boys are gonna be chasin' you, but none of them are gonna touch you. You want to know why?" Eric asked Sophie as he turned his head slightly to get a better view of her. "Cause Mommy and Daddy know how to shoot guns." He told her, chuckling slightly. "Don't tell Mommy, but Daddy is a much better shooter than she is."

"Is that right?" He heard his wife call to him. He turned around and saw Calleigh standing behind him with a slightly amused face on. "Teaching children violence at such a young age." She shook her head as she took Sophia into her arms.

"Just telling her what's gonna happen when she brings the boys home." Eric poked at Sophia's cheeks and laughed as she chuckled back at her.

"Daddy's just lucky that Grampy doesn't know how to use a gun." Calleigh nuzzled her nose against her daughters. "He didn't have to have Grampy's approval. No he didn't. He got me the first time he asked for my number."

"Best pickup line ever." Eric commented, taking Sophia back into his arms.

"You can think that." Calleigh said sarcastically. She chuckled once more before washing the dishes. "Since you have her, I should tell you that she needs her diaper changed."

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><p><em>5.5 Years Ago<em>

Sophia cried and squirmed around in Eric's arms as they sat together on the doctor's office bed. Eric attempted to whisper words of comfort to her, but 2 year old Sophia didn't understand the meaning of them. Calleigh sat in the chair beside the bed, holding a tissue to her face, dabbing at the tears.

"Calleigh, it's going to be alright." Eric whispered to his wife as he struggled to hold it together himself.

"No it's not Eric! She's only two Eric, she shouldn't be going through this." She cried out to him. "I should've noticed something with the amount of nosebleeds and ear infections she had. We are her parents, and we didn't even bother to do anything." Calleigh sobbed as she held Sophia's teddy bear close to her heart.

"Calleigh, we brought her to the doctors, and that's the best that we could've done. The doctor before said that the flu was the cause of everything." Eric had finally gotten Sophia to calm down a bit in his arms. He gently rocked her back and forth, trying to get her to stay relaxed.

"We could've switched doctors Eric." She snapped back at him.

"We did, we brought her to Dr. Cohen, that's the best thing we could've done for her." Eric got in the last comment before Dr. Cohen walked into the room with a grim look on his face. He walked over to Sophia, and put his hand on her forehead.

"I'm sorry Mr. and Mrs. Delko, Ms. Sophia has been diagnosed with an acute form of Leukemia." The world all but stopped for Eric and Calleigh as the doctor announced that their baby girl had cancer. Calleigh stood up from her chair, and walked over to stand near Eric. Eric stood up from the hospital diagnostic bed, and took his wife in his arms, leaving Sophia on the bed to be looked over by the doctor. Eric and Calleigh attempted to compose themselves before turning back to the doctor. Even though their little girl was only two, she could tell when her parents were happy or sad.

"What's the next step?" Eric asked, angrily wiping tears away. The doctor took a moment before turning around and facing him.

"We will need to do a Lumbar Puncture, which is where we take spinal fluid from the spine, and see if the cancer has spread to the nervous system."

"When will that be done?" Eric asked, rubbing Calleigh's back to comfort her.

"Two Weeks. For now, we will start with full body scans to check for other tumors."

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><p><em>5 Years Ago<em>

Calleigh and Eric clung on to each other as they waited for Dr. Cohen to come back with their results. Natalia and Ryan, Sophia's godparents, sat next to them, clinging on to each other. Natalia looked down at her and Ryan's intertwined hands, and tearfully smiled at him. He smiled back and brought her hand up, and placed a kiss on top.

"I can't do this." Calleigh cried, standing up abruptly and ran out of the room. Eric looked at Ryan before following his wife outside the hospital. When he finally caught up with her, she was standing at the outside garden and ponds, watching the fish swim around innocently.

"Calleigh." Eric said, as he came up from behind Calleigh, wrapping his arms around her waist. He put his head into the crook of her neck, and began kissing it. "We need to be there for Sophia." He whispered to her.

Calleigh gripped onto one of the hands he had around her waist. "I don't know if I have the strength. I feel like I failed our daughter." She sobbed. She turned into Eric's arms, and cried into his shoulder.

"You are her mother Calleigh, she adores you. You did not fail her, you helped her." He let a few tears slide down his own cheeks as he kissed Calleigh's cheek.

"I just feel that as her parents, we should have protected her from this kind of thing."

"I know Calleigh, I feel the same way. But there was no way to prevent this kind of thing from happening. The best thing we can do right now is stay strong for our little girl. She's a fighter." He gently massaged her back with his hand as he spoke.

"Mr. and Mrs. Delko." Dr. Cohen called from behind the pair, they turned around and saw the Doctor standing there, with Ryan holding on to Natalia, as she cried, standing next to the doctor. "Would you like to take this inside?" Dr. Cohen asked out of common courtesy. Eric and Calleigh both shook their heads, allowing the doctor to continue with his results. "It's in her nervous system, and reached her bloodstream." Calleigh's legs turned to jelly as she struggled to stand up, but thankfully Eric's hands were around her, holding her up.

"How long?" Eric asked.

"A year, maybe two. I'm so sorry." Dr. Cohen placed a comforting hand on Calleigh's back. "I'm going to schedule more chemo appointments." The doctor walked out of the garden, and back to the hospital.

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><p><em>3 Years Ago<em>

Four year old Sophia was sitting up in her bed, watching her favorite cartoons. She turned her head, and looked out over the Boston City Skyline. She looked out and saw the other children running around the Children's Hospital of Boson Playground. She noticed how carefree the children seemed to look. Even at four, she could tell that the mood in her hospital room was always stressful, and never carefree. She heard her door open.

"Hi Sophia." Eric said warmly as he placed a new teddy bear into Sophia's awaiting arms. He climbed into bed next to his daughter, and held her in his arms.

"I wanna go out there." Sophia complained, pointing to the outdoors. Eric looked at all the children running around, and sadly smiled back at Sophia.

"I know you do, but Mommy doesn't want you too." Eric kissed the top of Sophia's purple cancer scarf, which was wrapped around her bald head.

"Not fair. I wanna play Daddy. Play." She cried out to him. Eric nodded as he climbed out of the bed, and walked out of the room. He returned not 5 minutes later with Sophia's wheelchair. He carefully walked around the side of her bed, picked her up in his arms, and placed her in the wheelchair. He steered her out of the room, and to the play area. Eric was able to make it out to the swings, as he took Sophia in his arms. He began swinging gently back and forth with her in his arms gently, letting her relax in his arms.

Sophia wanted to go down the slide, so Eric lifted her in his arms and began walking over to the slide. Sophia looked back at Eric with her big brown eyes, stopping him before he reached the steps to get up to the top.

"Wanna go alone Daddy." Sophia smiled weakly. Eric let her out of his arms, and Sophia seemed to sense his hesitation. "Gonna be okay Daddy." Sophia said, as she began to climb the ladder. Eric watched as his daughter struggled to climb the six steps, but when she finally did, he let a tear run from his eye. Sophia turned around, and looked at her father. "Go catch Daddy!" Sophia exclaimed as she pointed to the end of the slide. Eric ran over to the other side, and got prepared for his little girl sliding back down towards him.

Sophia screamed in delight as she slid into her father's arms, laughing and clutching to him. "Fun Daddy!" Eric laughed as he walked back over to the stairs. He put his daughter down, waiting for her to climb up by herself again. He watched as Sophia didn't move. "Come with Daddy." Sophia stuck his hand out, and Eric grabbed it, sliding down the slide with her.

The pair slid two more times, which wiped out all of Sophia's energy. Eric carried her back to her room, not bothering to use the wheelchair. He laid her back into her hospital bed, pulling the blankets to cover his sleeping daughter.

That night, Eric got yelled at by Calleigh for letting Sophia outside. She yelled at him, saying she was too weak to be outside, yelling at him that the chance for infection was too high for her. But when one of the outside nurses showed her the video on her phone of Sophia sliding by herself, Calleigh thanked Eric, and cried herself to sleep in his arms.

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><p><em>2 Years Ago<em>

Natalia and Ryan walked into the Children's Hospital, holding a bundle of their own. The couple proudly walked through the halls, looking for Sophia's room. Once they found it, they carefully opened the door.

"Auntie Talia!" 5 year old Sophia whispered as she saw her favorite aunt walk into her room. Calleigh and Eric's heads turned around to look at the Wolfe family as Sophia pointed to the baby in Ryan's arms. Ryan walked over, and handed his 4 month old baby over to Eric.

"Daddy I wanna see it." Sophia exclaimed, trying to lift her head up, but she found she was unable to. Eric swiftly sat on the bed with Sophia, showing her the baby's face. "He's pretty Daddy." Sophia exclaimed, moving the oxygen tube around her nose a bit. "What's his name?" Sophia reached out a shaky finger as she tapped the baby's nose.

"Sean Anthony Wolfe, just like you said." Ryan smiled at Sophia; she was able to smile back before she was sent into a coughing fit. Eric moved Sean into Ryan's arms, and put a cloth up to Sophia's face. After her fit, he pulled it back, and revealed the red blood spattered on it.

"Daddy." Sophia whimpered as her head hit the pillow. Calleigh moved around Natalia, and stood beside Sophia.

"Natalia, can you go get the doctor please?" Eric asked as Sophia began to cough again. Natalia ran out of the room, and returned with Dr. McNeil, Sophia's Boston doctor, Dr. Cohen, and various nurses. Dr. McNeil went up to Sophia, and began checking her over while Dr. Cohen went over to talk to Eric.

"Did you find the match?" Eric asked as he stood up from the bed. Dr. Cohen shook his head. "How can you not find someone with AB? Eric yelled as he walked up to the Doctor.

"Sophia is AB Neg, one of the rarest types. You as the father, are type A, your wife is also AB Neg. But she is pregnant, and can't donate. It seems that Sophia's body rejected the last donation she received." Dr. Cohen explained, showing Eric one of Sophia's blood panels.

"Mr. and Mrs. Delko, we don't have much time." Dr. McNeil stated as he stood up from Sophia's bedside. "We need to find a donor, and fast." He told Eric, walking over to stand by the end of the bed. Eric walked over to his child, and laid down in bed with her.

"Tired." Sophia whispered as she turned an inch or so to be closer to her father. Eric held back the tears as he held Sophia.

"It's okay Soph." Eric reassured her as he ran his hand up and down her back. "You're a fighter baby. You're my little girl Soph." Eric whispered in her ear as he pressed his lips to her forehead. Sophia grasped on to his shirt as she began to fade away from them.

"Scared…Daddy." She whined as she closed her eyes.

"Don't be scared, Daddy and Mommy are right here." He stroked her cheek gently. "We aren't going anywhere Soph." Eric reached a hand across the bed and grasped Calleigh's hand. She didn't look up to him as all her attention was focused on her daughter. Natalia looked at her dying niece, then back at Ryan. Ryan nodded, and Natalia spoke up.

"Ryan may be a match, can he donate?" Natalia asked Dr. Cohen looked up at Ryan before nodding his head. "That's what we came here to tell you." Natalia told Eric.

"I give you consent, I'll answer the questions but let's start now." Ryan told Dr. Cohen. The two of them ran out of the room.

"Sophia, you have to stay strong, Uncle Ryan is going to help you." Eric whispered into Sophia's tiny ears. "Just stay awake Soph. Just keep talking to me, talk to mommy."

"Mommy." Sophia cried out, reaching one arm out, reaching into the air.

"Mommy's here baby, I'm right here." She climbed on to the bed. "Baby, you have to hold on ok?"

"Trying… tired." Her head collapsed back onto the pillow. "Just wanna sleep."Sophia's eyes shut and her head rolled to the side. Her heart monitor started beeping at a face pace.

"Sophia, SOPHIA! Wake up Soph, come on!" Eric cried, hopping off of her bed. The doctors and nurses swarmed around the bed, and began doing numerous things to try and stabilize Sophia. Calleigh stood over by the window frame, holding her hands against her face, trying not to look at her unresponsive daughter. Calleigh watched as Eric had to be physically restrained from holding his daughters by one of the doctors. Calleigh's own heart seemed to stop when the monitor sat at a constant beep, signaling the lack of life in little Sophia's body.

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><p>I just found this on my computer and thought I would add this. Also, I am not great with medical stuff, so try not to get to upset if something is wrong. I apologize for any correct information.<p> 


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